fossen.¹

Etymology: Originally < classical Latin fossa ditch, trench, moat, canal (see fossa n.¹), in post-classical Latin also grave, tomb (7th cent.), ordeal pit (from 12th cent. in British sources); in later use probably reinforced by Anglo-Norman fos, foos, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French fosse (French fosse) trench, ditch (c1100), creek, inlet (1139 or earlier), grave (c1165), (in anatomy) hollow, depression, dimple (c1185), defensive ditch outside a wall or rampart (mid 13th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), hole, pit, dungeon (early 13th cent. or earlier). Compare Old Occitan fosa, Catalan fossa (14th cent.), Spanish fosa (mid 13th cent.), Portuguese fossa (1124), Italian fossa (a1292).It has been suggested that in some instances (especially in place names) the Latin word was transmitted via British (compare Welsh ffos ditch, moat, trench, furrow (12th cent.), Middle Cornish fos (upstanding) dyke, Middle Breton foz grave), but this presents both phonological and semantic difficulties. Place names showing Brittonic forms are found in Cornwall in Old English contexts, but not further east, and there only with the particularly Cornish sense ‘(upstanding) dyke’; compare the following early example (in an 11th-cent. copy of a charter of 967):OE Bounds (Sawyer 755) in D. Hooke Pre-Conquest Charter-bounds Devon & Cornwall (1994) 37 Þanon aðan lytlan dic to þan miclan dice, þonne for on þa dic to fos no cedu. In sense 1 perhaps so-called with reference to a defensive ditch associated with the road. Although the name of the road is ultimately < Latin, it appears to have been given in the Old English period; compare the following passage (in a translation of charter bounds perhaps originally from the 10th cent.), which suggests that the name was recent at the time:c1275 (?OE) Bounds (Sawyer 1577) in S. E. Kelly Charters of Malmesbury Abbey (2005) 252 Per stratam publicam que ab antiquis stret, nunc Fos, nuncupatur [along the public street which from ancient times is called stret, now fos]. In sense 3b after post-classical Latin fossa; compare the discussion at pit and gallows at pit n.¹ 8. In sense 5 translating Italian bolgia valley, bag, used by Dante to denote each of the gulfs of the 8th circle of hell (see bolge n.; compare malebolge n.). Attested early in place names, chiefly in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in districts where much artificial draining has taken place; earlier currency of sense 2a is implied by the following examples: Fosham, East Riding, Yorkshire (1086), Catefos, East Riding, Yorkshire (1086; now Catfoss), Frangefos, East Riding, Yorkshire (1086; now Fangfoss), Fosse, North Riding, Yorkshire (1220; now River Foss), etc.